The effect of fampridine on working memory: a randomized controlled trial based on a genome-guided repurposing approach.

Working memory (WM), a key component of cognitive functions, is often impaired in psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. Through a genome-guided drug repurposing approach, we identified fampridine, a potassium channel blocker used to improve walking in multiple sclerosis, as a candidate for modulating WM. In a subsequent double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover trial in 43 healthy young adults (ClinicalTrials.

Assessing Stress Induced by Fluid Shifts and Reduced Cerebral Clearance during Robotic-Assisted Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy under Trendelenburg Positioning (UroTreND Study).

In addition to general anesthesia and mechanical ventilation, robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALP) necessitates maintaining a capnoperitoneum and placing the patient in a pronounced downward tilt (Trendelenburg position). While the effects of the resulting fluid shift on the cardiovascular system seem to be modest and well tolerated, the effects on the brain and the blood-brain barrier have not been thoroughly investigated. Previous studies indicated that select patients showed an increase in the optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD), detected by ultrasound during RALP, which suggests an elevation in intracranial pressure.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on obsessive-compulsive symptoms in the Swiss general population.

Background: In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, mental-health experts called attention to a possible deterioration of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCSs). In particular, people suffering from a fear of contamination were considered a vulnerable population.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the change in OCSs from before to during the pandemic within the Swiss general population, and to examine a possible relationship of OCSs to stress and anxiety.

The Iranian Corona Stress Study: Psychological Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic in an Iranian Population.

Background: To assess the psychological consequences of changes during the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the Iranian population.

Methods: We performed an anonymous online survey in the first 3 weeks of March 2020. Individuals older than 14 who could read Persian, and lived in Iran, were eligible for the study.

Human cerebellum and corticocerebellar connections involved in emotional memory enhancement.

Emotional information is better remembered than neutral information. Extensive evidence indicates that the amygdala and its interactions with other cerebral regions play an important role in the memory-enhancing effect of emotional arousal. While the cerebellum has been found to be involved in fear conditioning, its role in emotional enhancement of episodic memory is less clear.

Guilt is effectively induced by a written auto-biographical essay but not reduced by experimental pain.

Introduction: The aim of the present study was (1) to validate the method of guilt-induction by means of a written auto-biographical essay and (2) to test whether experimental pain is apt to alleviate the mental burden of guilt, a concept receiving support from both empirical research and clinical observation.

Methods: Three independent groups of healthy male participants were recruited. Group allocation was not randomized but within group pain/sham administration was counterbalanced over the two test-days.

Cannabidiol enhances verbal episodic memory in healthy young participants: A randomized clinical trial.

Cannabis contains a multitude of different compounds. One of them, cannabidiol - a non-psychoactive substance - might counteract negative effects of Δ-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol on hippocampus-dependent memory impairment. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of vaping cannabidiol on verbal episodic memory in healthy young subjects.

Visual Exploration at Higher Fixation Frequency Increases Subsequent Memory Recall.

Only a small proportion of what we see can later be recalled. Up to date it is unknown how far differences in visual exploration during encoding affect the strength of episodic memories. Here, we identified individual gaze characteristics by analyzing eye tracking data in a picture encoding task performed by 967 healthy subjects during fMRI.

Effectiveness of a smartphone-based, augmented reality exposure app to reduce fear of spiders in real-life: A randomized controlled trial.

Although in vivo exposure therapy is highly effective in the treatment of specific phobias, only a minority of patients seeks therapy. Exposure to virtual objects has been shown to be better tolerated, equally efficacious, but the technology has not been made widely accessible yet. We developed an augmented reality (AR) application (app) to reduce fear of spiders and performed a randomized controlled trial comparing the effects of our app (six 30-min sessions at home over a two-week period) with no intervention.

Effectiveness of a stand-alone, smartphone-based virtual reality exposure app to reduce fear of heights in real-life: a randomized trial.

Smartphone-based virtual reality (VR) applications (apps) might help to counter low utilization rates of available treatments for fear of heights. Demonstration of effectiveness in real-life situations of such apps is crucial, but lacking so far. Objective of this study was to develop a stand-alone, smartphone-based VR exposure app-Easy Heights-and to test its effectiveness in a real-life situation.

Reducing Amygdala Activity and Phobic Fear through Cognitive Top-Down Regulation.

The amygdala is critically involved in emotional processing, including fear responses, and shows hyperactivity in anxiety disorders. Previous research in healthy participants has indicated that amygdala activity is down-regulated by cognitively demanding tasks that engage the PFC. It is unknown, however, if such an acute down-regulation of amygdala activity might correlate with reduced fear in anxious participants.

Effects of cortisol administration on craving in heroin addicts.

Heroin dependence is a severe and chronically relapsing substance use disorder with limited treatment options. Stress is known to increase craving and drug-taking behavior, but it is not known whether the stress hormone cortisol mediates these stress effects or whether cortisol may rather reduce craving, for example, by interfering with addiction memory. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of cortisol administration on craving in heroin-dependent patients and to determine whether the effects depend on the daily dose of heroin consumption.

Continuous theta burst stimulation over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex decreases medium load working memory performance in healthy humans.

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays a key role in working memory. Evidence indicates that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the DLPFC can interfere with working memory performance. Here we investigated for how long continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) over the DLPFC decreases working memory performance and whether the effect of cTBS on performance depends on working memory load.

Motor threshold predicts working memory performance in healthy humans.

Cognitive functions, such as working memory, depend on neuronal excitability in a distributed network of cortical regions. It is not known, however, if interindividual differences in cortical excitability are related to differences in working memory performance. In the present transcranial magnetic stimulation study, which included 188 healthy young subjects, we show that participants with lower resting motor threshold, which is related to higher corticospinal excitability, had increased 2-back working memory performance.

Human genome-guided identification of memory-modulating drugs.

In the last decade there has been an exponential increase in knowledge about the genetic basis of complex human traits, including neuropsychiatric disorders. It is not clear, however, to what extent this knowledge can be used as a starting point for drug identification, one of the central hopes of the human genome project. The aim of the present study was to identify memory-modulating compounds through the use of human genetic information.